These are the most dangerous waters in the world, I knew about the rise in Piracy here in recent years, but never knew they were building an
Armada!

T72 Tanks and 30 of them, However hopefully they will be of no use to the Somali Militia's or pirates as a lack of trained crew and ammunition
support infrastructure and personel.

However I imagine they would command a high price to interested parties. Its not a small number 30 tanks!

However a small Navy, Tanks run by Pirates in a region that is close to the Middle east and with growing Islamic Fundementalism, growing Chinese
influence and funding, and also terrible conditions of life for the Somali people.

Not a stable area at all.

Kenya will be a bit upset at this, i wonder if they paid upfront? And its likely they will be seized by Kenya, South Africa or the West, however
Somalia is a dangerous place to try and assert control as the USA found out in Mogadishu.

Will be interesting to see how this goes.

Kind Regards,

Elf

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)
Edit For broken link

The US is a destabilizing agent because we have lost control of our military, truly. There is no little oversight for the CIA because the majority of
the work the CIA does abroad is completely confidential. In most cases congress and the president have to rely on what a General tells them about a
program or operation as the facts.

Long story short: The US has survived too long as a global destabilizer. We systematically destabilized Africa during the Cold War and have refused to
clean up our mess, and events like these are just further examples of the shortsightedness of our Foreign Policy motives.

The shortsightedness of most foreign Policy by the world powers has been the real cause of most of the regional and state problems we are
experiencing now.

Just the USA/Russia with Afghanistan and Iraq/Iran/Kurds etc shows it all, and the Arab Issue.

There is a real upsurge in problems though in the immediate area of Somalia. The Sudan is again undergoing Atrocities, with much Arab/Islamic/Oil/$
and tribal issues, Eritrea and Ethiopia are in constant conflict if Africa becomes a new middle East , well that really is very serious indeed.

Suppose we can be thankful no munitions were amongst the lot, however on the other side of the coin you can be sure Russia will be wanting to make an
example of the pirates who stole their stuff as a warning to anyone else!

US monitoring the situation: U.S. ships are in the area and are "monitoring the situation," Lt. Nate Christensen, spokesman for the U,S, Navy's 5th
Fleet said, but added he could not go further into specifics because of the security issues involved.

"Obviously, we are deeply concerned," Christensen said. "We have ships in the area and we are monitoring the situation closely. Piracy is an
international problem and it requires an international solution."

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman noted that the military has assisted foreign countries in previous instances of piracy.

"I think we're looking at the full range of options here," said Whitman. "A ship carrying cargo of that nature being hijacked off the coast of
Somalia is something that should concern us, and it does concern us. And we are monitoring the situation and taking a look at what the options might
be."

US monitoring the situation: U.S. ships are in the area and are "monitoring the situation," Lt. Nate Christensen, spokesman for the U,S, Navy's 5th
Fleet said, but added he could not go further into specifics because of the security issues involved.

"Obviously, we are deeply concerned," Christensen said. "We have ships in the area and we are monitoring the situation closely. Piracy is an
international problem and it requires an international solution."

Ha! Just wait till those pirates get a taste of the Russian version of an "International Solution"!

On September 18 the Greek ship "Centauri," with 25 Filipino sailors on board was attacked off Somalia by pirates in a speed boat, armed with
three rocket launchers.

Also

On Friday, Kenyan and Western officials said that an American warship was steaming toward the hijacked ship to intercept it, and the Russian Navy
announced that it, too, was sending a warship, the Dauntless. This could lead to a showdown with the pirates in the middle of the Indian Ocean. With
nearly two dozen hostages aboard a floating ammunition depot, things could get complicated.

Well it appears that the US had warships chasing the Pirates but has had no luck in Catching them!

Now the US, Rusiian and French Navy are all a little bit peeved to say the least,

Captain Jack and his lads have asked for 30 million pieces of Eight or around 35 Million $ for them back.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somali pirates demanded a $35 million ransom on Saturday for a Ukrainian ship they had seized which was carrying 33 tanks and
other military supplies to Kenya, a maritime official said

They have also said they will give the cargo to the Islamic Feudal Chiefs of Somalia!

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A Ukrainian freighter carrying an arms shipment seized by Somali pirates was headed Saturday for the central coastal city of
Harardhere in an Islamist-controlled region, a local official said.

They also tried to Attack and take over a US navy supply ship this week but failed, and they seem to be increasing their territory of control;

On September 18 the Greek ship "Centauri," with 25 Filipino sailors on board was attacked off Somalia by pirates in a speed boat, armed with
three rocket launchers.

And nearly every group or government monitoring sea piracy believes that number is seriously undercounted. The Australian government estimates the
actual number of piracy attacks is 2,000% higher. Piracy is estimated to cost between $13 and $16 billion every year and could cost substantially more
in coming years.

The Kenyen's because they never accepted the shipment have stated it's a Ukraine problem, I think therefore that the Russian's will in no way allow
this shipment not to be recaptured too much money and pride involved.

The thought of US and Russian Navy ships both chasing the same enemy within this already dangerous area is worrying.

the capture of the ships isn`t staged - its being done by the ethopians (using american supplied weapons) the somalian leader who was recently
executed had gone into the open about the weapon drops and who/where they were from

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